Cloud Myth Busters

Yes, I know, everyone is tired of hearing about the Cloud. It seems like talk about the cloud happens all day, every day, and you know that it’s hit the mainstream when your mom asks you about it. The reality is that we’re still so early in “The Journey” (yes, we call it that because it truly is one.) that it can be impossible to distill the tremendous amount of noise that exists around the topic. Let’s spend a few precious moments identifying the cloud myths that are swirling about and try to myth bust a bit.

Legacy – I have too much invested in my legacy systems, tools and processes that makes moving to the cloud too hard or just not worth it.

That’s partly true. Many companies have a lot of legacy systems and infrastructure out there. So much so that it clouds (no pun intended) their view on what’s possible. It’s like quicksand; the more time and money invested in legacy systems and architectures, the deeper and deeper you get, and it just seems impossible to get out. There is a way out though, and the first step forward is actually to take a step back and understand where you are today. From there, we’d suggest taking stock of what’s in your environment and seeing what’s ready to move to the cloud.

That’s absolutely not true. The public cloud is extremely secure. These environments have been built to adhere to the most stringent security standards on the planet. Cloud providers take an in depth approach, going above and beyond to ensure that security permeates throughout the environment.

Agility– What am I really gaining? There can’t really be as much benefit as people are saying.

When we talk to any business person, lack of agility is typically their number one challenge. Traditional legacy, or even co-location infrastructure, is designed and built so that it doesn’t allow for the flexibility companies need in the constantly changing world. The need to continually evolve and the ability to “fail fast” are so important to businesses today, and the cloud enables you to do just that. You can literally create a global infrastructure in a matter of minutes that runs only when you need it. The benefits are dizzying.

Cost – I hear that it will actually cost me more to run in the cloud.

There are tremendous economies of scale to be gained by building out the massive footprint that the existing public cloud providers have built. It’s enabled them to get such a head start that it’s downright unbelievalbe what you can do today at a fraction of the cost of doing it in a traditional IT world. There are a number of TCO calculators out there that will show you the cost of running infrastructure on-prem vs in the cloud. Take a look at the calculator we built for AWS and see for yourself by plugging in your own numbers.

Best of Breed– I can use any cloud provider. They’re all the same.

There is an entire body of knowledge dedicated to the cloud landscape, how mature each company’s offerings are and where they fit in the overall landscape. I am a firm believer that you build your company to be as agile as possible, trying to eliminate brittle and hard linkages. Please check out the following link for an independent analyst’s view of today’s cloud landscape.

Org Structure– I can use cloud as I see fit and keep things the way they’ve normally been internally.

True innovation is happening here. The industry is attracting the absolute best and brigh talent, and the pace of innovation will only accelerate. I’m not saying you need to stay ahead of it. The goal is to keep pace and not fall behind. We can help you do that!